A COUPLE who paid builders more than £27,000 to renovate their home say they’ve been left without a roof and front door for ten months.
Matt and Allison Brown say that they were told the job of building a new porch and rear extension would only take six weeks but still isn’t completed nearly a year on.
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The pair, from Caerphilly, South Wales, hired a firm called K Construct last May and claim that they have been “living on a building site” ever since.
They said that they feel abandoned by the firm and project manager Darryl Kavanagh, who disputes their allegations.
Matt, 49, said: “Our house has been left in an unsafe state.
“It’s been unbearable and almost tarnished the entire time we’ve been here.”
He explained that their front door is now a plywood board held on by screws and that the lack of guttering means that water leaks into the property and causes damp.
The distraught dad fumed he and Allison, 57, don’t have enough money to hire someone else to finish the work as they have already paid out almost all of the £30,345 they were quoted.
He said: “So far we’ve paid out a total of £27,110 to these people. As a result, we don’t have enough money left to hire someone new to step in and make the place liveable again – we don’t even have the funds to attempt the work ourselves.
“Our mental health has suffered from this and our autistic son has really struggled with all the disruption.
“This is his home and he should feel safe and secure in it – instead he’s often in tears of frustration over it all.”
There has been no work done since August amid, Matt said, a row between builders and building inspectors over the structural supports used in the build.
Matt also claimed that Mr Kavanaugh had used a basic drawing he had asked Matt to produce as a “blueprint” for the home.
He added: “We’d go to a solicitor and start legal action against K Construct if we could. But, again, we can’t afford to.”
Mr Kavanaugh has denied abandoning the couple and said that work was halted because they refused to pay an outstanding £4,000 fee for building materials.
He added that the plans supplied by the Browns had to be revised, which then meant that the home required planning permission where it had previously been exempt.
Mr Kavanaugh claimed: “Yes, there have been delays our side – as there often are in building work – so I can understand their frustrations.
“But there were a litany of things that popped up which weren’t our fault – things which we then had to deal with. Not least the lack of professional architect’s drawings in the first place.
“We’re ready and willing to return to Caerphilly and get this job finished, as soon as the current outstanding balance is paid.
“We haven’t run away anywhere. But if they aren’t going to pay what’s owing then things can’t progress.”
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